This film is comparable to SOUNDER (1972), by the fact that in each you have a young woman suddenly bereft of her husband's companionship and support. Now in this case, Edna Spaulding as unforgettably played by Sally Field, suffers this loss in an almost comic, inexplicable and violently tragic way. The scene is an accurate depiction of how racial tensions can vector off into the strangest directions. Things are set right, however, after Royce Spaulding, admirably played by Ray Baker, experiences his demise at the hands of a little black man named Wylie. He is poignantly played by an animated De'voreux White. Wylie is cut down by his family after being found hanging from a tree, but both Wylie and Royce end up having their funerals in segregated churches.
Before these gruesome and brutal deaths, things were already pretty grim with everyone in the depths of The Great Depression, barely scraping by irrespective of color. But now Edna is facing foreclosure and eviction from her modest home with her two children in tow, should she fail to pay her mortgage. Sucked into the void of her grief is a homeless African American man, name of Moze as played by Danny Glover, who is not above petty thievery. We find him begging for meals when not offering his services as an all-around handy man. Joining him is John Malkovich as Mister Will, a blind World War One veteran earmarked for the State Home, should Edna not take him in as a favor to her banker, Lane Smith as Albert Denby, who just happens to be his brother-in-law. Edna takes them both in as lodgers, Moze goes to the barn while Mister Will is in the house.
These two new men in her life, one black and one white, are not enough to make up for the lack of one whole husband. But their presence is enough to suggest to her ways and means to cultivate financial resources that might keep her in the house and on the farm. Speaking of farms, the bottom has fallen out for the cotton crop, but Edna needs to do something with her forty acres fast or lose them to creditors. Moze, after failing to convince Edna how painful and back breaking picking cotton can be, reluctantly takes charge of the sharecropping enterprise. There is good reason behind his reluctance, as the viewer eventually discovers.
Moze, while taking up quarters in the barn, winds up bringing a whole crew to the fields to help with the work. Edna finds herself out in the fields 'till can't see in the morning until far past can't see at night. She makes it her goal to get her crop in first before all other rivals in order to win a one hundred dollar bonus. Even a tornado ripping through their small town of Waxahachie, overturning vehicles and shaking the schoolhouse loose where Amy Madigan as Viola Kelsey teaches, when she is not carrying on an affair with a married man, does not shatter Edna's determination. But finally, it takes all hands on deck, including her son Frank and her daughter Possum, as well as her sister Margaret as played by Lindsey Crouse, and Ed Harris as Wayne Lomax, Margaret's philandering husband, for a final push of community effort. It is late at night, with Edna crawling on her hands and knees clutching cotton to her sack, before Moze finally tells her their work is finished.
There are other surprises lying in wait for this intrepid and unlikely band of survivors. Moze and party have managed to help Edna and family, Yankton Hatten as her son, Frank, and Gemmie James as Possum, to bring their crop in first. Unfortunately, the behind-the-scenes dickering of a homeless handy man does not come without a price. Edna bargains with Jay Patterson as W. E. Simmons for the best possible price per pound of cotton. But in the end, comes to reap consequences that prove to be more than she bargained for in Simmons office. Ultimately, writer and director Robert Benton brings everybody to church to partake of the body and blood of Christ, and we see the barriers break down between black and white as well as the living and the dead.
Before these gruesome and brutal deaths, things were already pretty grim with everyone in the depths of The Great Depression, barely scraping by irrespective of color. But now Edna is facing foreclosure and eviction from her modest home with her two children in tow, should she fail to pay her mortgage. Sucked into the void of her grief is a homeless African American man, name of Moze as played by Danny Glover, who is not above petty thievery. We find him begging for meals when not offering his services as an all-around handy man. Joining him is John Malkovich as Mister Will, a blind World War One veteran earmarked for the State Home, should Edna not take him in as a favor to her banker, Lane Smith as Albert Denby, who just happens to be his brother-in-law. Edna takes them both in as lodgers, Moze goes to the barn while Mister Will is in the house.
These two new men in her life, one black and one white, are not enough to make up for the lack of one whole husband. But their presence is enough to suggest to her ways and means to cultivate financial resources that might keep her in the house and on the farm. Speaking of farms, the bottom has fallen out for the cotton crop, but Edna needs to do something with her forty acres fast or lose them to creditors. Moze, after failing to convince Edna how painful and back breaking picking cotton can be, reluctantly takes charge of the sharecropping enterprise. There is good reason behind his reluctance, as the viewer eventually discovers.
Moze, while taking up quarters in the barn, winds up bringing a whole crew to the fields to help with the work. Edna finds herself out in the fields 'till can't see in the morning until far past can't see at night. She makes it her goal to get her crop in first before all other rivals in order to win a one hundred dollar bonus. Even a tornado ripping through their small town of Waxahachie, overturning vehicles and shaking the schoolhouse loose where Amy Madigan as Viola Kelsey teaches, when she is not carrying on an affair with a married man, does not shatter Edna's determination. But finally, it takes all hands on deck, including her son Frank and her daughter Possum, as well as her sister Margaret as played by Lindsey Crouse, and Ed Harris as Wayne Lomax, Margaret's philandering husband, for a final push of community effort. It is late at night, with Edna crawling on her hands and knees clutching cotton to her sack, before Moze finally tells her their work is finished.
There are other surprises lying in wait for this intrepid and unlikely band of survivors. Moze and party have managed to help Edna and family, Yankton Hatten as her son, Frank, and Gemmie James as Possum, to bring their crop in first. Unfortunately, the behind-the-scenes dickering of a homeless handy man does not come without a price. Edna bargains with Jay Patterson as W. E. Simmons for the best possible price per pound of cotton. But in the end, comes to reap consequences that prove to be more than she bargained for in Simmons office. Ultimately, writer and director Robert Benton brings everybody to church to partake of the body and blood of Christ, and we see the barriers break down between black and white as well as the living and the dead.